Bahamas bound!!!

Hang with me on this. It's "project time"!!!!

We are going to the Bahamas next year...... In our airplane........

The FAA now requires that you have very "visible" registration numbers on your aircraft. Just in case the F-16's want to buzz around your aircraft - they want to be able to identify you.

But, alas, our airplane was manufactured prior to this requirement. Our airplane's registration numbers are small. Entirely legal for flight inside the borders of the U.S.A. See?  The numbers are visible as small gold digits near the tail of the aircraft.   We have to fix that!!!

So, we start painting!!  Lots and lots and lots and lots.....of tape.

Duane wanted to do a nice "outline" for the numbers.....so, it's about twice as much tape!!   Here the airplane is all wrapped up ready for the "outline" color (brown to match the bottom stripe).

Trust me - it will make sense in the end!

Brown painted for the outline.....

OK, now it gets a little complicated - next, the outline has to be masked over for some primer to be applied to the inside of the numbers.

Primer applied so the "under colors" don't show thru.

At this point, we still hadn't decided on the exact color for the numbers.   So, I went to Lowe's - and got about a hundred paint chips....No, we're not using regular paint.  The paint we're using is very expensive 3-part Acrylic Polyurethane.  We just used the chips to decide what color we wanted - took the chip to the paint shop and had them mix it. 

Drum roll........

And the color is GOLD!  To match some emblems on the plane and it goes nicely with the earth tones of the airplane.

Just page thru the "unveiling":

Peeling the masking (in the reverse order in which it was applied):

And there you go - ready (almost) for the Bahamas!!!

Tee Shirt Hemming Trick

Some of you may have noticed that I like to trim off the bottom of my tee-shirts. I'm just more comfy with them loose and not tucked-in.

I've been using a "blind hem stitch" on my machine for this - but it sometimes puckers the fabric. To remedy this, I thought maybe the needle was dull, so I decided to replace it. I got down my little box of sewing "stuff" that came with my very basic sewing machine 20 years ago. While searching for a new needle, I found a weird DOUBLE NEEDLE. It is an amazing thing!! So simple, so easy, made me so happy!!




You thread the needles just like you would one needle - just using two spools of thread. Both threads go thru the tension wheel together.





This is the result - a very even, smooth hem!!



Here I've pulled the hem aside so you can see both the top and the "wrong" side. I'm a happy camper - see, it doesn't take much to make me happy!

Big Sale!!!!

I know, it's not the "big sale" at Belk's.....



It's the "Karen got to SELL a BIG AMOUNT"!!!!

2700 gallons of jet fuel....that's a little more than one third of a tanker truck load!

Yep, damn the stock market. If only I could sell this much every day!



The airplane is a G-4 (Gulfstream 4) - one of the biggest we see. A very nice ride...to say the least!

Poor Ben - the fueling took about 45 minutes! I took him a bottle of water half-way thru and let him leave early for the day....it was the least I could do for the record-setting fueling.

"The Help" you gotta see it!

Our book club had read the book "The Help" several months ago....universally liked (which is unusual in our group!) We went to see the movie on opening night - it was PACKED - we could only find a couple of seats together and had to spread out in the theater!! Bravo - a really good movie - and you don't need to read the book first!!!

Just a little table

So, most of you guys know I occasionally score "finds" at the "swap-shop" at the local recycle center......

My latest is a little side table. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it! Miranda and Richard needed a little table to set on their porch - and this one can be customized to match their house!




Here's a close-up of the pretty top





After a few little repairs, the table got a good primer coat - then a couple of coats of exterior paint.






Starting to add some color! (I borrowed their house paint!!)




Pretty yellow accents




And lastly - some very bright blue!!!



A little hard to see - but I got a sheet of glass cut for the top. Ready for delivery!

Birthday picnic

This past weekend, we scooted up to Mills River for a quick family picnic/birthday celebration/sister visit!


What a nice relief from the 100 degree heat at home....gotta love the mountains for the wonderful temperatures! This crowd knows how to relax!





Mom and Frank enjoying their meal






Yep, relaxing visit



The birthday girl!! Fresh from N.D.!!!





Somebody reached the 1/2 century mark.....had to add black/white candles to the vegan cake!!





More birthday girl!




What trip is complete without a little dip in the pool - just a bit chilly for me at 80 degrees!!!




More silly water fun




Over too quick!

Closet Catastrophe

I heard a big, muffled "bang" in the spare bedroom (where I keep my clothes).

Obviously, I had too much weight hanging on the cantilevered shelf. It collapsed and all the clothes fell off. Like, hundreds of pounds of clothes!

Here is the closet with the shelf just propped back in place (the supports were bent)....


I had asked dear hubby to fix it - so in true McCraw style, it had to be "improved".

First, he built a little stud-wall around the old triple-walled chimney pipe.


Sheetrock installed to safely hide the old (currently unused) pipe. Extra shelving installed and the original shelf modified with much better support!


Taaa-Daaa! A still messy, but better organized closet!

Rodeo (local this time!)

We were invited to attend a local event - in the 102 heat!! There was a nice breeze most of the time, so it was tolerable.

Here is our friend Mark - he owns the farm. This is an annual event - lots of their friends come from far and wide to participate.


Herding the steers -




Fun to watch! (and it looks really hard to do!)

I've been waiting 3 years for this!!!

Can you believe it?

Driving by the Friendly Florist this afternoon, I did a double-take. Yaay! They finally invited all the Karen's in the town to come by for free flowers!



I chatted with the owner - I really should have gotten his name. Nice fellow - he said they have a long list of all the names they've used for the past 3 years. No repeats so far! So, I guess I'll have to wait over 3 more years before it's my turn again.


He handed me a pretty little bouquet of lovely fresh flowers. Thanks Friendly Florist!!

Veggies!!!

Yep, it's that time of year again!!! I'm about over-run with the yummy things!!!

Water for my deck

I know it doesn't look like much....but Duane installed a spigot for the deck over the weekend. I've wanted one for years - just never got around to it. I've been hauling the water hose up 12 feet in the air all these years to water my plants. Thanks, dear!

Boys working on cars

All "my" boys were at the house - helping Richard with a transmission for his 4Runner....well, Duane was helping - Robert appears to be "supervising".....

Quick-change Weather

When I left Asheboro yesterday, it wind was blowing and a thunderstorm was fast approaching.....I guess it felt like a Chinook wind!


Six minutes down the road I drove into the thunderstorm - wow what a difference!!!!

Deer, lots of deer

The deer are really pests around here....they are even eating the buds off all my chrysanthemums!!! I didn't think ANYTHING ate mums!

I was driving down the driveway and caught this little herd - they just looked at me for a while, then scampered away.....

Siler City Airport Helicopter - Chinook

We had a Army Chinook helicopter visit Siler City Airport - very cool....

Siler City Airport Open House

Saturday we hosted an Open House at the Siler City Airport - the first "event" that we've had there in a good while.

The weather was "frightful" to start the morning, but the clouds cleared and it was a beautiful day!

Hundreds of people from the Town and surrounding areas came out. Lots to see.






Our local EAA chapter gave Young Eagles rides to all kids 8-17 (and some adults too, if they begged enough!!)




The Siler City Fire Department sent some of their equipment and personnel. The UNC Hospital helicopter came over and were "on call" most of the afternoon.




Our local WNCA radio station was "live" from the airport.


It was a great day!

.

Birthday and Trivia

It was Duane's birthday - our usual celebration is just going out to eat....so, the boys met us at the Brewery in Pittsboro for a nice meal. Miranda is on a family trip to Illinois :-(

We were about ready to leave when a lady came to the table and asked us if we would go over into the bar area and play a trivia game that they were just starting....since we really didn't have anything much to do, we said "sure".

We had to have a "team name" - Robert came up with the "Bomb Diggity's". I've got no idea what that means, I think it just sounds cute.

Now, we are not really trivia people....but it was fun. Plus we won!!



And we got $50 in gift cards!!! How cool is that?



Some of the questions - test your skills!!

What is actually eclipsed in a solar eclipse?

What is the most "covered" song?

Who was Mohammed Ali's opponent in Manilla?

What Queen song was rejected by Sly Stallone for the Rocky movie?

How many teams play in the World Cup soccer tournament?

What nation produces the most orange juice?

What is the name of the golf course that hosts the Master's?

What was the name of the boy in the movie E.T.?

What was the name of the dog in the movie Back to the Future?

What actually holds pollen on a bee's legs?


The answers:


The earth

Yesterday by Paul McCartney

Fraizer

Another One Bites the Dust

32

Brazil

Augusta National

Elliot

Einstein

Static electricity


So, how did ya do??

Boating for July 4th!!!

Sailboating and POWER-boating this past weekend. Hop over to Glory Days to see what we've been up to!